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Rúnandor
Faction disbanded! ''' Builds lost in a reset in 2017. Introduction The '''Rúnandor are a faction of green-elves, or nandor, who inhabit the central Drúwaith Iaur. They are bond in a union and closely coexist with the Drúedain of Andrast and the southern Drúwaith Iaur. The Rúnandor originally inhabited Ossiriand and later the Evendim hills and Eregion until the demise of the rule of the elves over those areas and the subsequent rise of the Númenóreans. In the late Second Age they chose to join the Drúedain in their perfect isolation from the troubles of the world ... Realm The Rúnandor faction, of the Rúnandor(-lië = people), inhabit Turmen Rúnandorniéva, which encompasses the central Drúwaith Iaur, bordering the foothills of the Ered Nimrais. The area stretches about 40 leagues (180 km) from north-east to south-west and 20 leagues (90 km) from north-west to south-east, along the Ered Nimrais. Drúedain Most of the permanent settlements of the Drúedain are located to the south of the Turmen Rúnandoriéva and in the north and west of Andrast. Both Rúnandorin and Drúedain use temporary settlements throughout the parts of the Drúwaith Iaur to the west and north of the Turmen Rúnandoriéva, for various purposes. Rúhíni Ilúvataro The bond with the Drúedain is sealed in the word both people use to describe themselves. They call their combined people, the 'Rúhíni'. Rohan Rohan claims control over the Drúwaith Iaur based on its persistent efforts to keep the area free of permanent Dunlending and Orcish settlements and hold a passage to the men and elves of Eriador and Lindon. This claim is endorsed by both Drúedain and Rúnandorin, who both see this as a justified and practical way to keep Dunlendings and Orcs at bay. In return, the Rúhíni peoples guard any trade routes in the area and in times of urgent need assist Rohan in their attempts to maintain control over the Enedwaith. Nandorin Kinship They are very closely related to the Silvan elves of Eryn Galen (Mirkwood), who were also once part of the Telerin elves lead by Lenwë. As such, they feel still part of the larger Nandorin nation of the Penni (people), despite the Sindarin rule of their kin in Rhovannion, and the distance in both space and time that separates them from other Nandorin, spread across Eriador, Rhovannion and Rhûn. Many of the elves of Dorwinion are also of Nandorin descent. Allegiance They can be considered 'united' with the Rúatani (Drúedain). These are yet non-existing, but considered fictionally present. As they are very closely allied with the wood-elves of the Woodland Realm, wood-elven alignment is used to 'formally' establish political stances with other factions. The Woodland-Realm, Fangorn and the Galadhrim are their closest allies. They are 'practically' friendly to Rohirrim and Gondorians, mainly because of the foes they have in common: Dunlendings and Orcs of any origin. In a long lost past both the Rohirrim and the Númenóreans/Gondorians proved less trustworthy as they drove the Rúatani out of their homes and sometimes even hunted them for sports. During last centuries the menace of wildmen and orcs has intensified and relations with the realms of men have ever strengthened. Governance & Rule Like the Nandor of Ossiriand in the First Age, the Rúnandor do not have a single ruler. They use elder councils, both for local and central decision making. The realm, Turmen Rúnandoriéva, is divided in ten regions, or 'yónë', each goverend by a local counil. These local councils are called Maqua and they consist of five members. For central decision making a Maquat is gathered, consisting of ten members, one for each of the ten 'yónë'. Decisions are made by means of consent. If consent cannot be achieved, majority voting may be used. The central region, and the biggest 'yón', is called Lúreäyóndë and covers an ancient and vast dense dark-oak forest in the heartland of their realm. That yón is home to the central council hall, the Oromarendë, some centralized training grounds and lodgings for the mahtothar, and a few more facilities not needed in all of the yónë. Note that this is all planned for building. Players & roles - One of the elders of the Maquat is Rúhyó Rácandil, son of Garmahyó. Rúyhó was born in the year of the First Battle of Beleriand in Dor Firn-i-Guinar when the Years of the Trees would come to their end and the First Age was about to begin with the coming of the Híldor. He carries the weight of a long history in his knowledge, wisdom and skills and is one of the most respected elders. Rúhyó is a roleplay character of AlteOgre. - Another elder, but only on a local level, is Faryó Sorondil, a younger individual, born in the late Second Age in Lúreäyóndë, a few decades before the downfall of Númenór. He has a nickname among his comrades: 'Sorhen' (eagle-eye). Faryó is a roleplay character of GrungeGrumpy. - A third permanent member is LateOgre (yes, it runs in the family). His character is a young farohtar. Society and infrastructure The people live of what the lands offer them and there is hardly any trade with outsiders. A yón typically holds 3-5 small communities, márë, with each holding 5-10 larger homesteads that are home to one to three families and are spread out with woodlands, small acres and pastures in between. With 4-12 individuals per family, the average már is home to 125 people, the average yón has 500 inhabitants and the entire realm hosts approximately 5000 Rúnandorin. A homestead can consist of many smaller buildings. Most of the buildings are made out of dark oak beams and planks and are integrated in the undergrowth of the dense forests the Rúnandor prefer to inhabitate. Some homes are made in the largest of trees found in the woods. These huge trees are also used to support the many watchposts. Roads are not paved with highly durable materials, but mainly consist of dirt path, gravel and mossy cobble. Only few roads are fit, wide enough and not too steep, for travel on horse- or elkback. The network of smaller footpaths throughout the entire Drúwaith Iaur is massive and experienced farothar can travel to any part of the area surprisingly quickly. Despite the rugged terrain and seemingly impenetrable woods, a well trained farohtar can travel the realm from east to west in a fortnight, and on only a very limited amounts of lembas. The art of creating lembas has long been embedded in Nandorin society and passed through the skills and knowledge of the Yavannildi among them. Some of the few Nandorin who inhabited Eregion in the early Second Age, and joined the Rúnandor, had learned the craft of tool making from their Sindarin kin. This enables the Rúnandor to craft Galadhrim quality tools, a craft that is mostly performed by Mahtohtarin. Military The armed forces consist of any man and woman alive. All are skilled in the art of woodcraft-survival, hunting and archery and their base gear consists of wood-elven scout armour, bow (of Mirkwood) and arrow, (Wood-elven) dagger and/or (Galadhrim) axe. Only few use heavy (Wood-elven) armour. All can ride a mount. As mounts, both horses and elks are in use. The Rúatani have passed the knowledge of cratfing poisoned arrows to the Rúnandorin and in return some Rúatani were trained as smiths. Both peoples have developed a very high mastery level of stealth and covert operations, enabling them to pass unnoticed into the lands surrounding the Drúwaith Iaur and visit their allies in Fangorn, Lothlórien, Mirkwood and the Drúadan Forest in Anórien. The military organisation consists of two types of fighters: Farohtar (hunters) and Mahtohtar (warriors). Functionally every Rúnandorin is a farohtar. Farohtar require skills that come naturally for most in their lives as farmers-hunters-woodsmen, professions everyone must hold, regardless their descendance or political position. Only few are trained to wield other weapons like sword, battle-staff and spear. Longspears are hardly used as these are rather impractical in the environment preferred for combat. As they prefer guerilla tactics and did not have to deal with large scale invasions, they have never established large military bases nor strongholds (... except one, see below). The military presence is most visible through the numerous watchposts spread throughout their realm. These are manned with two dedicated mahtohtar (who also perform other tasks for the local elder council), and a large number of local farohtar, who take shifts dependent on their availability. Development & training missions Many Rúnandorin have spent a few years in training / covert missions in Eryn Galen and later in Lothlórien and Mirkwood, gathering herbs, hunting poisonous spiders and maintaining / strengthening their ties with their kin. Fangorn and the Drúadan Forest are also frequented on a regular basis by small, deliberately sent out 'packs', for similar reasons. These packs, or hossë, mostly consist of 4-8 men and women, of which 1-2 are mahtohtar and the rest is farohtar. Dependent of the terrain and destination, they travel on foot, or mounted. Their close connection with the realms of Yavanna and Oromë, enables them to easily acquire mounts and only use very light gear to mount and control them. Roleplay & gameplay objectives * The objectives for roleplay in this faction are survival, building, roleplay and pve. * We do not pursue pvp, and shun pvp warfare. Therefore, this faction is unfit for pvp oriented players, but perfectly suitable for players who do not have an affinity with pvp, and prefer other gameplay objectives over pvp. Assumptions 1) The Drúedain (Rúatani) will some day be introduced as a separate faction and for roleplay, they will inhabit the central and southern parts of the Drúwaith Iaur. 2) The Laiquendi (Nandor) will some day be introduced as a sub-faction, preferrably of the Silvan elves (that will have Woodland-realm as main faction). Server History The lore story sprouted in Alte's brain at some point when he had just decided to start playing on TOS again and settle somewhere. Since early 2016 works have focussed on a massive stronghold at the edge of the White Mountains and a vast dense oak-spruce forest in what was Enedwaith before update 29. After the update, with the addition of the Drúwaith Iaur biome, works will be expanded to also include more secluded, Rúnandorin builds in the dense dark-oak forests of the central Drúwaith Iaur. Builds Osto Hyaryóndë Rúnandoriéva is a stronghold in the southern yón of the realm. The stronghold was designed by Rúhyó and erected under supervision of Rúhyó and Faryó. It's purpose is to provide a safe haven for all Rúhíni in case of need. The Osto and it's surrounding lands are the permanent residence of Faryó and his clan. It also hosts the local Maqua and the central Maquat, but both only in exceptional situations. It is the only build constructed before update 29 and the server reset. The surrounding chunks have not been reset, so you'll find pre-29 Enedewaith dense oak-spruce forest and white mountain foothills there. There are many planned builds, but at the time of this writing the newly generated lands surrounding the existing build have not even been explored yet. Joining * Most essential is that players act in line with the spirit of the Roleplay & gameplay objectives as explained above. Next to that, a clear positive alignment with the Woodland-Realm and Lóthlorien are required: +100. * We use the title 'Silvan Elf', in dark green. If some day 'Nandorin Elf' is added, we'll use that. * Contact User:AlteOgre in private, either in-game or via Alte Ogre @ Facebook, to arrange an introduction and to 'seal the deal'. Lore Many of the Nandor, aka Laiquendi or Green-elves, of Ossiriand and Arthórien, fled Lindon after the War of Wrath. Since they had waged war against the Firebeards and Broadbeams of the Blue Mountains and as their former realm was overwhelmed by Sindar and Noldor from the devastated lands of Beleriand, they didn't feel quite at ease in what was left of their homeland. Therefore, many headed back to where the families of their ancestors had settled throughout the ages, east of the Ered Luin. And so, many of those who joined the troop of Denethor on his journey to the west and survived the Wars of Beleriand, travelled to Eriador with their offspring. Some settled around Lake Nenuial and some later joined a party of Sindar to settle in Eregion. After the destruction of Eregion most Nandor clans west of the Hithaeglir lived in and near the forested Hills of Evendim and around Lake Nenuial. The rise of Arnor lead to a gradual decrease of the size of the woodlands in Eriador. This was also clearly noticable in the heavily wooded Eriador Downs. Once again the Nandor felt the urge to head back along the route Denethor had lead them to follow many centuries earlier. Most of them travelled to Eryn Galen, to join the people Denethor and his company had left, east of the Hithaeglir. Some however, knew of the inhabitants of the remnants of the Drúwaith Iaur, south of the broad valley of the Isen in the Enedwaith, and north of the Ered Nimrais. There lived the Ruatani(*),or Drúedain, who most of the Nandor had come to know when they inhabited Brethil and proved themselves true friends of the elves and ents, and likeminded worshippers of Yavanna and Oromë. And so it came to be that an age-old affinity between these rather primitive Edain and the Nandor drove part of the Nandor of Beleriand south, to seek new refuge in the Drúwaith Iaur. (*Ever since the departure from Ossiriand, a group of elders among the Nandor had begun to re-use '''quenya for naming', besides the common use of Sindar as spoken language. The reason for this habit was never openly explained, but it was apparent that they had thought it a way to come clean with the horrendous events involving the kin-slaying which initially had made Thingol banish the use of quenya many centuries earlier. The role the laiquendi had fulfilled in the second kin-slaying may have had a profound feeling of indebtness among the Nandorin elders, the core of laiquendi rule at the time and since the slaying of their first and last King, Denethor.)'' Throughout the centuries, Nandor elders had ensured their clans maintained close and warm ties with their Ruatani friends of old, and the bond they had forged for so long, proved valuable to both. The Ruatani of the Drúwaith Iaur lived secluded for many centuries in the foothills of Andrast, around Ras Morthil, and the southern Drúwaith Iaur. They were not surrounded with friends. To their north they had to deal with the wild descendants of the Haladin, the Dunlendings. To their south and east, the Númenoreans had forced them from the Ered Nimrais. Therefore, in the late Second Age, they warmly welcomed the skilled and likeminded Nandor of Eriador, and offered them refuge and lands to settle in the central and northern parts of the Drúwaith Iaur. The Nandor, who would call themselves Rúnandorlië since their arrival in the Drúwaith Iaur, would ensure both Dunlendings and Orcs would fear to tread the Drúwaith Iaur, while the Ruatani, would maintain their fragile relationships with the realms of men to the east of Andrast and the Ered Nimrais. In the course of the remaining Second Age and the first millenia of the Third Age, both peoples gradually improved their symbiotic coexistence in these ancient lands. Both managed to maintain their secretive existence, while around them the world changed, sometimes very slowly and gradually, sometimes dramatically. ... This is a Work in Progress and more info may be added later on. Category:Elves Category:Good Category:Disbanded Factions